Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez provided details
Social tensions in France have escalated again, with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu declaring that any amplification of the current wave of student discontent would be considered irresponsible. This firm stance was adopted following the arrests of 164 people, a number recorded over the course of Monday. The protests, which began in the capital Paris, are marked by high school closures, held by students for several days, in response to structural problems such as classroom congestion and chronic teacher shortages.
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Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez provided details on Monday's balance sheet, specifying that 12 members of the security forces, 12 students and three school employees were injured. He also noted that 180 educational institutions were affected by the disturbances, but did not provide any further information about those arrested. The French high school movement, equivalent to high school or middle school classes in other educational systems, debuted last week in the Île-de-France region around Paris.
On the same day, the unions representing
During these events, acts of vandalism were reported, and fireworks were fired at the police, the movement then spread to other parts of the country. According to the AFP news agency, four high schools have been blocked in the south of France, in the Alpes-Maritimes and Var departments. Protests were also reported in Marseille, northern Lille and Sedan, northeastern Ardennes. The Syndicat Lycéen, which represents the interests of students, defended their actions in a social media post, arguing that the lack of teachers and staff, degraded schools, the busy schedule and the stress generated by the Parcoursup platform - the French higher education enrollment system - are not inevitable. The union attributed these problems to Macron's policies of the past decade and the lack of resources in the national education system, urging students to block schools on Tuesdays to defend their rights and protest budget austerity.
On the same day, the unions representing teachers, hospital staff and public officials also organised a day of strike, protesting against low wages and working conditions. Returning to the student movement, Lecornu acknowledged that the difficulties of high schools must be listened to and solved, but insisted that violence must be condemned unequivocally, and the perpetrators must be held accountable for their actions. The prime minister also accused the radical left-wing party France Unbowed (LFI) of encouraging students to expand the movement. LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon blamed Lecornu's government for ordering the suppression of the protest, arguing that the students involved are ineffective.
In response, Minister Nuñez described the demonstrations and blockades as quite atypical protest movements, more like urban violence. He described the presence of masked individuals, equipped with pipe guns and projectiles, who clearly wanted confrontation with the internal security forces, concluding that it was not about formulating demands but about violence in its purest form. Since the start of the protests, there have been several incidents of violence between students and police. In one specific case, according to BFMTV, a police officer would have fired a grenade used for crowd control, injuring a student. Investigations into these incidents have been opened, the speaker added.